A FUNK! That's what I call this mood I've been in now for a couple of weeks. Depressed, down in the dumps, the doldrums, bummed out, debased, debilitated, daunt, discouraged, scorned, weighed down, etc. (I used that thesaurus Brian recommended). I'm sure I'm not alone in getting that way sometimes and at the very least, most imperfect people, can relate. Funny thing about it is that I'm a moody bastard and sometimes there's a reason for that shit, sometimes not. When I was a young man it was usually about boo-hooing over some failed relationship. These days it seems to be more of a chemical imbalance I suppose. I've grown up some over the years, I might even say wizened (a little), so that when I get into that mood I stay away from the self pity. It's a plain and simple fact that half the fuckers in this world have it a lot worse than me or you. Kind of something your Mom would say if you were going to waste food. Famine, civil war, genocide, oppression, blatant corruption, true poverty and a REAL sense of hopelessness is what most of the OTHER selfish, greedy, opportunistic, cannibals face daily. I have all my limbs, all five sense, a job that pays the bills and meets not just my needs but some of my wants as well, and for the most part my wits, so I don't have anything to slow me down. The only thing I'm a victim of is myself and my own choices. Yet here I am in my little FUNK and maybe I haven't learned anything because going back to my teenage days, when whatever hormones make us emotional, kicked in, and I discovered that sensation. When depressed I listen to depressing music. Kind of like when your emotions are at their worst for whatever reason and you go out and get drunk, in other words take a depressant. Almost a masochistic thing. I'll start you off with a couple of classics,
The Cure - Boys Don't Cry
The Smiths - How Soon Is Now
Any favorites you guys have for those woe-is-me moments (they don't have to be that failed love crap)? The thing to do isn't to get drunk or listen to that sappy stuff, it's to take a stimulant. Go out and get yourself an eightball of some coke or speed, and live it up. Put some early DRI on the MP3 player and dodge traffic on the freeway. Actually my bro Brian took it to a righteous level and requested this one...
Fishbone - Everyday Sunshine
Haven't done a "Top Ten All Time" thing in a long time (and actually by the time things are said and done here at MR, I hope to have a top 13 or 14). If you don't have this album in some way, shape or form, I really don't know what to say. Disappointment would be my first thought, especially if you claim to be a lover of music. Like a junkie and his tar, you MUST have this record. My first exposure to it was from my Mom's best friend and 60's/70's party buddy. She bought the record brand new when it first came out, which was no surprise as my Mom and her didn't dabble in the mainstream very much when it came to music. I was of course blown away and got my own gatefold copy from the used bin in about 1979. The music, the words, the whole vibe fit me in a way that my old Taco Bell uniform never did. A light in the darkness. Not a woe-is-me thing, but a brooding anger. Each member is special in their own right. There is an almost imperceptible difference as far as which one is my favorite, this one or the first self titled LP. They are two completely different albums and normally I would pick the earliest recording but in this case Paranoid was my introduction to the band. Plus there were more songs, so I felt like I was getting something more from the band. This is one of those albums, which to me is great from beginning to end, not one bad or weak tune. Sabbath for me ended in about 1975 and as much as I dig Dio, there is no Black Sabbath without Ozzy and Ozzy just didn't cut it for me on his own, even with the legendary Randy Rhoads. No light in the darkness.
A little something different this time, I'm not going to give you MP3 files (which would only be for sampling anyway, right?) of something you should be able hold in your greedy little hands. Everybody and his brother has covered Black Sabbath including my old band Grout. My original thought was to provide a shit load of covers of each of these tunes so that a guy could trip on the variety of different bands' take on each tune. Some covers are lame karaoke type shit without a personal touch but I've talked about how I hate that drivel before. Some tunes, like Rat Salad just aren't covered that much and in the case of that tune I only found one version. So rather than give up a shit load of tunes that probably no one is going to take the time to listen to, I picked out two of what I consider are the most interesting or listenable. In some cases I've found a special Black Sabbath version, but nothing from the original album. Of course nothing comes close to the vibe of the originals. Many, many musicians have been touched, influenced by and have masturbated to these guys, so take a second to give a few of these tunes a listen.
EDIT: Damn I had a lot of cool tunes in this post, but I took 'em down...if you feel up to the challenge, do some surfing on the web and you could end up spending hours on bands who have given tribute to the mighty Sabbath! I don't care how fucking old you are though, pick up a copy of this album (and while you're at it you may as well pick up the self-titled 1st LP as well)...[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq42HUUJFzU]
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